A Snowy Christmas
by pleione-x
Summary: Remus comforts Tonks - who was a bit down because of the Christmas Holidays.


It was a snowy Christmas. Everyone was in the living room, laughing, talking. Remus had spent a good evening, though he wondered where Nymphadora had gone. She had spent most of her time with the kids, morphing her hair to make them laugh. She was such a selfless person.

Remus was walking along the corridor of the first floor of Grimmauld Place when he heard a noise. The sound of someone sniffing and hiding a sob. He pocked his head in the room where it seemed to come from and he had a shock. Nymphadora Tonks was on the sofa, crying. The brilliant Auror Nymphadora Tonks, alone, a hand on her mouth, the other on her chest as if it hurt.

"Nymphadora, are you alright?" Remus asked as he quickly walked in the room until he was just in front of him.

"It's... it's no-nothing." She tried to say but another sob escaped her mouth.

Remus sat next to her, and offered her the clean, white handkerchief he had in his pocket. He rarely used this one. It was a very old one, that he had got years ago by his parents. There were his initials on it, embroidered in red. She took it, her hand trembling and blew her nose.

"Is there anything I can do?" Remus asked tentatively. He didn't feel like leaving her this way.

"N-no. I'm sorry – I shouldn't be – crying." She said slowly as if to control her sobs.

"Don't apologize. Never apologize for that, Nymphadora." Remus was about the reach for a strand of hair that had fallen on her forehead but stopped mid-way. She looked at his hand, then at him, not disgusted, not angry, but waiting for him to go on. Or maybe that was what he _wanted_ to see. He took a risk, and did it. She closed her eyes at his touch and Remus just lingered his hand in her hair, sliding her hair behind her ear. "Do you want to tell me what's going on or do you just want me to go?"

"Stay." She said quickly, then blushing as she realized how fast she respond.

"I'll stay." Remus said reassuringly as he sat. He wasn't really about to leave, anyway. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes threatening to roll down her cheeks again and she quickly hid her face in his chest, her shoulder shaking. Remus wrapped his arms around her, stroking her back smoothly with one hand, and the other one in her hair.

He didn't know what he had to do, what to do in those moments. What could make her cry? Who could dare make her cry?

After a moment, she calmed down and she was just breathing steadily in his arms, not willing to move already. Remus didn't mind. He had wanted to hold her in his arms so many times, just to feel her warmth, to nuzzle her hair. Her hair. It wasn't pink, it was a light brown. He loved when she had it pink.

She moved away, enough to look at him, but she kept a firm grip on his jumper, as if she was scared he would be leaving.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that. Usually, I try not to have any witnesses."

Remus had his hands on her shoulders, not willing to let her go.

"Does it happen often?" Remus asked. She looked down. _Idiot,_ he thought.

"Hum.. well, it happened." She said still looking down at her hands on his jumper.

"You know you can always come to me when you have a problem?" At that she looked up, her eyes still shining because of the tears, but she smiled shyly at him. "You can always come to me." Remus repeated, knowing that he meant much more than just a friendly comfort. He knew that he was only saying that he would always love her, and nothing could change that. Remus Lupin who had thought that he would have never fallen in love, had fallen hard, for Nymphadora Tonks, more than he would ever have the chance to admit.

"Thank you." She whispered. She let go of his jumper and Remus only had to move his hands away from her, too, now. He looked down and saw her hands, on his wrist, and he couldn't help but smile interiorly. He let his hands fall, half on her lap, half on his.

"Is there anything I can do for you? Get you some tea? Walk you home? Do you want to talk about it? Or would you rather stay silent?" Remus asked awkwardly. She laughed. Of course, she did. He was awful at that kind of things, how to react when a friend of yours, the woman you love is crying.

"I think I'm just... exhausted." Tonks replied. Remus believed her words: she did not look as tired as the way she spoke. She sighed as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. It only half surprised Remus that the woman who was always so cheerful, lightening a whole room by her presence broke down once she was alone. "I've had two night shifts in a row, and I had to go work at the Ministry, too so haven't have a good night of sleep in a very long time."

"I could prepare you a bed, here, if you want?"

"No, it's fine. I'll leave soon, I just want to stay a bit for dinner or Molly's gonna worry." She said as she played with a loose strand on his jumper. Remus laughed, because she was right. Each time Remus didn't take another plate of food she'd question him about his health and living conditions.

"Alright. Promise me something, Nymphadora."

"If you stop calling me Nymphadora." She said with a cheeky smile that did not reach her eyes. She tried to joke, at least.

"We both know, I can't do that." Remus said his hand on her knee, his thumb tracing circles, absentmindedly.

"Whenever you feel like you need to talk to someone, and I don't know, if you have no one else better to talk to, come to me, alright?" Remus had always had a thing with words, but when he was with Nymphadora, he lost all his means.

"So you have to come in the last position on my list?" She asked, apparently amused.

"Well, I am sure that you have better people to talk to."

"But let's imagine that I want to put you on the first position?"

"Then, I'll be there for you." Remus replied sincerely.

"But aren't you going to think I'm some weak person who cries when she's tired?"

"I could never think that of you. Crying is not an act of weakness."

"Remus?" She asked.

"Yes, Nymphadora?" She rolled her eyes, smiling.

"Can I have a hug?"

"Hum. Yes." He replied, a bit awkwardly. Not a lot of people would want to tou

+ch a werewolf. But Remus sat a bit closer and wrapped his arms around her waist, while she had buried her face in the crook of his neck, her arms around him, holding him tightly. "I have the most profound respect for you, Nymphadora."

"Even when I cry?" She asked, her breath tickling his skin.

"When you cry, when you laugh, when you fight, when you speak." Remus said holding her even tighter.

"Even if I tell you that I have a stuffed animal at my flat?" She asked laughing, her nose against his skin.

"I would love to meet that little companion." Remus said nuzzling into her hair – feeling that he had the right to.

"His name's Billie Bunny."

"Billie Bunny? Interesting name." Remus said laughing lightly. "Is Billie Bunny a rabbit?"

"Yes. White and pink rabbit." She replied. He felt her getting comfortable in their embrace, so he leaned his back against the sofa, and she did not move her head from his chest, and he did not move his hand from her waist. She moved her legs on top of his so that it was more practical for them and Remus placed a hand on her knee, tracing lines.

"Yep. I'm not that good at naming things, I know." She said, playing with his hair.

"I thought Billie Bunny was a very good name." Remus said trying not to laugh but failed miserably.

"So you'll let me find you a nickname?" She asked moving to look at him.

"Oh my."

She slapped him on the chest playfully and kept looking at him, smiling.

"Huggy Remy?"

"No." Remus replied and she pouted mimicking children. She looked down, thinking and pressing her lips in a line. She got a glimpse of her hair and looked at a strand surprised. She screwed up her eyes and her hair turned bubblegum pink.

"Like it?" She asked pointing at her hair.

"Love it." Remus replied then blushed at what he said.

"Sweet Remy?"

"Let's agree that Remy is out of the question." She pouted again and then looked at him, her head on one side. "Rem."

"Rem?" He repeated.

"Everyone calls you Lupin, maybe your friends call you Remus. So I could call you Rem?"

"Alright. Fair enough." Remus felt his stomach twitching at the fact that she wanted to be different from his friends. She wanted to be special. If only she knew how special she was for him.

"And do I have the right to a nickname for you?"

"Well, it does seem fair." She replied and Remus wanted to tease her a bit.

"Once a hufflepuff always a hufflepuff."

"And proud!" She said, placing her hand on her heart dramatically.

"Dora."

"What?"

"Dora. I like Dora."

"Dora's fine." She said, suddenly shy. "My dad calls me Dora."

"Do you want me to find another one?"

"No. Usually I don't want people to call me that, because Dora's personal but... I like it when you say it."

"Alright, thank you, _Dora_." Remus said a cheeky smile on his face. She laughed and rested her head back on his shoulder.

"You're welcome, Rem." No one had ever called Remus 'Rem' but it sounded nice from her lips. It was right that everyone called him Lupin, even Sirius.

"If I find a stuffed wolf, can I call him Moony Remy?" She asked, her hand on his stomach.

Remus laughed in her hair, his lips brushing her temple.

"I'll allow it but if you tell anyone I'll deny that this conversation ever happened." She laughed, and Remus kissed her forehead. It felt right. More right than anything he'd ever done in his life. She let him do that, so maybe it meant she thought it was right, too.

She snuggled closer to him and moved his shirt to leave a kiss on his collarbone. Remus shivered at her touch, he had not see it coming. She sat up to look at him, and slowly she moved her face closer to his. There must have been just 4 inches between them and, Remus did the same, he moved closer until their nose were touching and she smiled. He pressed his forehead against hers and breathed her air for a moment.

She was the one who pressed her lips against his, and he responded just as enthusiastically. Remus held her face between his hands, and she was holding his jumper tightly between her fingers pulling him even closer.

Then, Remus kissed her jaw, and the skin behind her ear and just took her scent, feeling drunk of her scent, of her love.

* * *

_**Have a wonderful Christmas! **_


End file.
